444 H. G. Raverty— The Mihr&n of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. KTo. 
Tributaries of the Ghag-ghar. 
I must now refer, as briefly as possible, to the chief tributaries of 
the Ghag-ghar as they flowed about ninety years since. 
“ The Markanda, which is a perennial stream, rises a little to the 
west of Nahun, where it is known under the name of Jura Pani, and 
passes a little west of Rasul-pur, which is just two kuroh north of Sad- 
hura, after passing which it loses the name of Jura Pani and is known 
as the Markanda. It flows in the direction of about south-west, and 
reaches Shah-abad, which it passes close by on the north ; and here it is 
known by the name of Makra as well as Markanda. Prom thence it 
runs on to Thaska, which it passes close to on the north, and thence by 
lsma’il-pur, Cliliapra, and Bibi-pur, which two latter places lie on the 
north bank. Prom the latter place it runs south of Majra one kuroh 
from Kuhram, to reach which place, from the southward, the Markanda 
has to be crossed to Majra. From Shah-abad to this point the course is 
a little to the south of west, after which it bends more towards the south¬ 
west, and unites with the Ghag-ghar a little to the west of Agund.” 603 
At the present time, the Markanda turns towards the south imme¬ 
diately east of Thaska, and unites with the Sursuti instead of the Ghag- 
ghar, rather less than four miles north-east of Pehu’a, twenty-three miles 
and a half farther east than its former place of junction with the latter 
liver. 
In the acconnt of the “ Country of the Bliatties ” by W. Hamilton, in his 
“ Hindustan,” Yol. I., p. 523, he says : “ The Bhatties were originally shepherds. 
Various tribes of them are fonnd in the Punjab, aud they are also scattered over the 
high grounds [!] to east of the Indies, from the sea to Ooch. In the Institutes of 
Aeber [the A’l'n-i-AkbariJ these tribes are by Abnl Fazel named Ashambetty.” 
Abu-1-Fazl in the “ A’in-i-Akbari,” referring to the people inhabiting the 
Thathah province dependent on Multan, says, that, “ they are <Af Ajf 
az ahshdm-i-BhuU tvo juz-i-dn .” He of course referred to the various sections or sub¬ 
tribes of the Bhatis, ahshdm being the plural of the ’Arabic word —hashm — 
and the person who originally made this absurd error, mistook the two words 
“ ahsham-i-BhaU (here again the Persian izdfat was not understood. See note 242 
page 276), for Asham-batty, leaving out the ‘ h ’ of one word and ‘ h ’ of the other. 
Ahshdm, literally, means ‘ fraternity,’ ‘ bands,’ ‘ bodies,’ ‘ followers,’ ‘ attendants, 
‘servants,’ etc., but is used to indicate, not as regards the Bhatis only, ‘clans,’ 
‘ septs,’ ‘ tribes,’ etc. 
There is no mention whatever of any river “ Begunuh” which now, accord¬ 
ing to the maps, unites with the Markanda two miles and a half south-west of 
Paplutha, and this shows what great changes have taken place hereabouts in less 
than a century. This “Begunuh” river of the maps, is the “ Begna ” of the 
Gazetteers. It appears to be considered right that the two should differ — variety 
is c harming ! 
